Of Fishnets and Sweater Vests
by Miss Maggie
Summary: Sweater vests and fishnet stockings should be a fashion no, especially when worn together. But a special friendship and subsequent love story proves that the most unlikely combinations can work well together. Artie/Tina.


**_Of Fisnets and Sweater Vests_**

**Author's Note: **This fic should be fairly self-explanatory, but I really enjoyed writing it anyway. Major thanks go out to _Hecate's Rath, Artemis Rayne, Euphro_, and _Swimnsail_, the fiercesome foursome that manage to keep me swimming in Glee conversations and Artie/Tina fic bunnies. Blame all four of them for managing to inspire this one-shot. :)

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The Buying Of**_

Tina thinks that she's in love with Artie when she considers buying a sweater vest at the mall one quiet Saturday afternoon. She's mildly bothered by this consideration because she wants to buy the sweater vest for _herself._It's black, which suits her, but, it's a sweater vest. A sweater vest, knit, oversized, and despite the color, very much not her style. Still, it hangs on the rack at the generic mall department store, looking lost and forlorn against the harsh fluorescent lighting. She snorts at this observation, because _really,_ when did she get to be so poetic?

Despite this, she buys the sweater vest, and when she leaves the mall that evening having only purchased that vest and a generic white button down shirt (sorely lacking in rips, ruffles, or accents), she knows she's in love. Still, she wonders where the _hell_ she's going to wear her new purchases. (Still, she's proud of her self-control—the suspenders remained on the department store shelf.)

Artie thinks he might be in love with Tina when he catches himself admiring fishnet stockings when he's at the mall on a different day. He sees the familiar pattern and immediately reaches out to touch the fabric, reminded of her. He blinks once, then twice once he realizes what he's doing.

However, for some reason, he winds up buying the stockings, getting a curious look from the salesclerk in the process. He shrugs and tries to look nondescript and suave (of course, failing miserably at it). He takes the bag with a bit of an embarrassed smile, unsure of what to do with them now. (It's not like he's planning to wear them.) He knows he's in love when he realizes he bought them because they reminded him of Tina, although now he kind of wants to give them to her and he's not sure how to do that without having it come across oddly. Because it's kind of an intimate thing to be buying solely because it reminds you of someone, but it's so very …_Tina_.

_**The Admitting Of**_

On one otherwise normal afternoon, late in their sophomore year, Tina is rummaging around in Artie's closet, looking around for a hoodie that she is convinced she'd left behind at his house last week.

Artie is sitting on the bed across the room, trying not to laugh at her frantic searching. He is not very successful at this.

"What's so funny?" Tina stops her frenzied efforts for a moment, then turns around to send a playful glare toward him. "I know my jacket's in here somewhere."

"Are you sure?" Artie raises an eyebrow. "Because normally you're the one stealing my sweaters, Tee. I wonder how many you have stuffed in your closet."

"Like you've got a great shortage of them at the moment," she says, gesturing toward the neat line of sweaters hanging above her head. "I don't think I've ever seen so many in one place before."

"I'm sure you have quite the collection of them now yourself," he says with a playful glare, "of stolen sweaters."

Tina has her head buried in the dark depths of his closet again, and she lets a hand peek out absently from behind her, casually waving the matter off. "Sweaters aren't exactly my style," she says, her tone dismissive. She scoots forward on her knees, peering more closely into the closet, still intent on finding her jacket.

"How are you so sure that your hoodie is in my closet?" Artie laughs, and tries very hard not to notice the way her rear end is on display while she's digging through things on the bottom of the closet floor. He's not altogether very successful at this.

"Because." Her tone is stubbornly confident, and a few seconds later, an "ah-ha!" can be heard, muffled because of how far she's managed to wiggle herself into his closet. She pulls herself out of the closet backwards, holding a small black zippered hoodie triumphantly. "I knew I'd left it here."

"But how did it wind up in there?" Artie can't help but smile at the victorious look crossing over her features.

"I dunno, but it was the only place I hadn't looked yet, so I _knew_ it had to be there." Tina shrugs and starts cleaning up the gigantic mess she's made because of her search for the jacket. She's reaching for a hanger when her hand brushes across a small package, still unopened. "Hey, what's this?"

Artie can feel the blush creeping along his face as Tina sets her hoodie aside to peer at the plastic-wrapped parcel she's just discovered. He finds himself unable to respond as she peers down at the label and has her question answered without his input.

"Fishnets?" Tina's tone is amused as she studies the stockings in her hands. "Artie, do I even want to know why you have a pair of fishnet stockings? Are you saving them for our next _Rocky_ _Horror Picture Show_ night or something?"

Artie is sure his face is vibrantly red right now, and he shakes his head no with a bit too much force. "Um, no. I bought them because they, um, looked good. Wait! I mean that they look good on you, and I liked them. Not that I like them for me…" he trails off, taking a deep breath before speaking this time. "They reminded me of you, Tee."

"I thought _I_ might have left them here. You mean you bought them? Really?" Her tone is a bit too amused for Artie's taste, and he vaguely considers hiding under the covers. That plan is foiled when he feels Tina climb up on the bed next to him. She places a hand on his shoulder and squeezes it gently. "I'm... okay, I'm really impressed that you did that."

Artie gives a small smile and reaches up to place his hand over hers.

"Should I be worried that you associate fishnets so strongly with me?" She raises an eyebrow, still amused.

"At least it's not safety pins or chains," he mumbles, getting embarrassed again. He pats the hand he's covering with his own. "See, you're even wearing fishnets now."

"Gloves," she points out, "not stockings." But she shakes her head and then, suddenly, she's biting her own lip nervously. "Guess it's time for my own confession, then."

"What? You bought suspenders because they reminded you of me?" Artie's tone is joking as he tries to keep things light.

Her cheeks are turning vaguely pink. "Actually, it was a sweater vest."

"Seriously?" Artie grins at her. "You didn't just steal one from my closet?"

"I seriously bought a sweater vest of my very own." Tina grins back at him, unable to hold the laugh back for any longer. They're both laughing now, and the embarrassment drifts away from the situation with a relative ease. "I suppose this says a _lot_ about our sense of style," she says, once the chuckles subside.

"But I like the fishnets," says Artie with a shrug of his shoulders. "On you," he quickly clarifies.

"And I think you can probably rock the sweater vests better than I can."

Artie smiles at her, his expression mischievous. "I'm not so sure about that, Tee."

_**The Wearing Of**_

Tina knows it's more than a little insane, but she can't get that mischievous grin he gave her out of her mind. Artie, her dorky, incredible, sweet best friend, had giving her a _look_ which had made her weak in the knees. There was just something weird about it.

Still, she wasn't sure she minded, not exactly, so that weekend, as she's blearily going through her closet, looking for something to wear, her eyes land on the sweater vest. The one she bought in a moment of weakness, or something. (She's not entirely sure what yet.) The vest that Artie is _convinced_she can rock better than he can.

Suddenly, she feels like it might be a good idea to try and prove him right.

She hears the doorbell ring later that morning, but she lets her mother answer the door because she's in the middle of trying to lace up her knee-high combat boots, and they are not _exactly_cooperating. When her mother tells her the guest is for her, Tina quickly ties the last lace and starts bolting down the steps. Halfway down, the sight of Artie waving from the bottom of the staircase nearly sends her right back upstairs again. Tina ignores the butterflies gathering in her stomach, and instead, she checks to make sure her mother is safely settled back into her office, well out of sight. Satisfied, she slowly walks the rest of the way down the steps, keeping her head held high, but letting her feet linger on the final stair.

"Nice outfit." Artie tries to keep his tone playful, but he's staring and his mouth is hanging open a little.

"I told you I'd bought one." Tina is smiling now, pleased that she's the one making _him_ suffer. "I still think you make them look better though."

"I respectfully disagree."

Tina tugs at her shirt nervously, then shrugs. (What more can she possibly lose at this rate?) She boldly climbs down from the last step and takes a seat on Artie's lap.

"Hi." Artie is blushing brightly now, determined to keep his eyes focused firmly on her face.

She resists the urge to laugh at the dazed awe in his tone. "So, I take it you like the fishnet and sweater vest look?"

"Very much." He swallows thickly, then tugs gently at the sleeve of her white dress shirt. "I'm not surprised the vest is black, though."

"I had to draw the line somewhere." Tina smiles at him once more, then moves to get up. A hand on her elbow keeps her from doing so.

"Leaving so soon?" Artie bites his lip, but doesn't take his hand away from her elbow. "You should at least stay awhile, especially since you've gone to all of that trouble."

Suddenly, the black pleated skirt with its chains and safety-pins seems _way too short,_ and she's wishing she'd worn jeans or really, anything else at this point. Not sure what else to do, she leans back against Artie's chest comfortably, then crosses her legs. "All right then. If you insist."

His eyes widen and he can't seem to tear himself away from her skirt, especially as it rides up slightly when she crosses her legs, revealing a bit of fishnet-clad thigh. He swallows again before wrapping his hands around her waist. "I didn't think sweater vests could be so form-fitting."

"Me either." Tina bites back a gasp as his arms circle around her waist, and she quickly lets her own hands rest on her knees, where her fingers absently toy with the laces of her boots. "I guess I just lucked out in the sweater wearing department."

"The fishnets add a certain touch."

"They did seem to fit, yes." Her heart is now pounding in her chest, and the butterflies in her stomach have begun to stage a performance worthy of Rachel Berry-level praise. Tina shrugs against his chest. "They're definitely a weird combination. Fishnets and sweater vests."

"But they seem to work," agrees Artie. One of his hands sneaks down from her waist to toy with a loose thread on her fishnet gloves. "You could say they defy expectations."

Tina feels her heart leap into her chest when he takes her hand to play with her gloves. "It's a like a mash-up. A _good_ one," she clarifies when she hears Artie's skeptical protest over her shoulder.

"Okay, I'll buy that one." He reaches out to clasp her hand, squeezing it gently. "So, you manage to make fishnets and sweater vests into an amazing combination. Do you have any plans to add suspenders to the mix?"

Tina squeezes his hand back and lets a giggle escape. "I'll leave the suspenders to you."

"You could probably make them look good."

"You'd make them look better." Emboldened, Tina twists her face around to whisper into his ear, "especially if you _just_ wore the suspenders."

Artie can feel his face flushing, taken aback by her boldness. "I'll ah, keep that in mind."

Tina smiles, but her face is pink as well.

Realizing that an opportunity like this might not come up again anytime soon, Artie wills all the courage he can muster, ready to leap on this chance.

But before he can act upon his gathered courage, Tina's lips are crushing against his. The kiss is forceful, more forceful than he'd ever dared to hope for. He can't quite believe all of this frenzied energy is coming from Tina, his best friend, sort of girlfriend Tina—but because he's wanted to kiss her this way for a while now, he decides the best thing to do would be to kiss her back.

When the kiss ends some time later, they wind up resting with their foreheads touching, both breathing heavily and smiling goofily.

"I think fishnets and sweater vests are the best combination ever." Artie winks at her in an overly-exaggerated fashion, which makes Tina giggle appreciatively in response.

"I think our friendship is a better combination," says Tina, burrowing her head comfortably in his neck.

"You know, I think you're right."

Tina gives a little triumphant _ha!_ at the admission, but before she can gloat about it too much, Artie decides to quiet her celebrations with another kiss.

When they separate again, Tina is smirking. "Okay, so does that mean I get to see you in just your suspenders tomorrow?"

Artie starts blushing furiously and looks really embarrassed, but doesn't outright say no, so Tina decides that she might be able to convince him to do it for her just yet. In the meantime though, she doesn't mind wearing the sweater vest and the fishnets.

Because oddly enough, they do work well together, just like her and Artie do. And who can complain about that?

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**Reviews are love, and I'm soliciting Artie/Tina drabble prompts. Your ideas are most welcome. ^^**


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